As Major League Baseball continues to announce its award winners for the 2024 season, the Cy Young awards for each respective league were announced. Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and Atlanta’s Chris Sale were voted as the winners. Both pitchers were excellent on the mound for their teams on the way to winning the award. It’s the first Cy Young award for both.
The unanimous winner in the American League, Skubal received all 30 first-place votes from the committee. He beat out Kansas City starters Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans along with Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase. Skubal’s breakout 2024 campaign was one of the best seasons for a starter in recent memory. He led the American League in wins (18), ERA (2.39), and strikeouts (228), becoming the third Tiger to complete the league’s Triple Crown (Justin Verlander, Hal Newhouser).
Skubal was named an All-Star for the first time in his career and continued his strong play all the way to the postseason. The lefty overwhelmed hitters with his triple-digit fastball throughout the entire campaign. He’ll celebrate his 28th birthday with a Cy Young win.
For Sale, it was a magical season that culminated in his first career Cy Young award. Sale has seven top-6 Cy Young finishes in his career and was the runner-up in 2017. After just 151.0 IP over the last four years, Sale recorded 177.2 IP in his first year with the Braves and won the NL Triple Crown (18 wins, 2.38 ERA, and 225 strikeouts).
Sale gave up just 2 ER in the entire month of May, and surrendered only 3 HR over his last 18 starts (1.96 ERA). While he doesn’t have the same velocity, Sale’s violent delivery and devastating slider made him unhittable on most nights. He earned 26 first-place votes, with Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler finishing second and Pittsburgh rookie Paul Skenes rounding out the top-3.
The pool of elite MLB pitchers is deeper than ever, and these two aces represent the best of the bunch in 2024.
